


The Power of Yes

by N3kkra



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: As slow burn as a one shot can be, Crying, Cunnilingus, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Feels, Gonna fix John, He's too pretty to die, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, One Shot, Oral Sex, Religion, Sex, Shameless Smut, Slow Burn, Smut, This was supposed to be ALL smut but now it's at the end, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 14:11:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15074846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N3kkra/pseuds/N3kkra
Summary: Deputy Sarah Rook is going to save John if it kills her. And seeing who he's related to and everything he's done, that just might happen.





	The Power of Yes

**Author's Note:**

> I got into Far Cry 5 and really zeroed in on John, and I couldn't help but make dirty jokes at some of the things he said. And frankly, he's sexy, so if only we could fix that whole 'crazy' part, right? Well, instead of just killing the guy, let's try saving him.  
> The original plan for this fic was a dubious consent smut fest that I'll probably write separately because this got more covert-y and more lovey-dovey than I intended –it was supposed to be mostly smut and I didn't get to smut until page ten. So, if you're only here for the smut, skip to the last section, but if you want to know how they got there, sit tight!

            Deputy Sarah Rook gasped when John grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her back down into the water. Unclean he’d said she was. She stared up into his bright blue eyes as the air bubbled out of her lips and skewed his features. The sounds she made were involuntary and her body reflexively kicked against the man’s hold.

            Even if you try to relax, your body doesn’t like being drowned.

            He pulled her up and said something, but she couldn’t hear him over her own coughs. Then she was pushed back toward the water, halting right as her head splashed against the surface. Someone was talking to John. Someone who put fear in those blue eyes.

            Joseph.

            John said something, but Joseph cut him off, not needing to raise his voice. “You have to love her, John. Do not let your sin prevent that.”

            Sarah looked at John’s face. He was staring at the water, his breathing coming quicker, shallow. He didn’t look back at his brother bathed in the glow of headlights made divine by the Bliss that tainted the air. Instead, he stood there, petrified and waited.

            “Bring that one to me.”

            John faded behind her, but she felt him push her forward. Her legs were unsteady, but the hand on her shoulder kept her moving forward and upright despite the slick rocks. Joseph reached his arms up so that when Sarah reached him he could cup her jaw with both hands. He looked her in the eye and bowed his head forward, looking at her through his sunglasses still, but at the rim.

            “Despite all that you have done, you are not beyond salvation,” he said, his expression determined, not a hint of anger touching his features. “You’re not here by accident or by chance. You are here by the grace of God. You’ve been given a gift.”

            The words were near hypnotizing, but Sarah knew it was the Bliss. She knew later she would think back to this and kick herself for not putting up more of a fight. But right now, she was relaxed and right now all she wanted to do was listen.

            “Now it remains to be seen whether you chose to embrace it… or to cast it aside.” Then Joseph turned his attention to her right, to John. “This one shall reach the Atonement,” he wagged a finger at Sarah she thought was a little funnier than it should have been. The Bliss was really getting her. Then Joseph leaned in toward John and took him by the back of the head, drawing him close so their foreheads touched. John had yet to look at his brother, he looked at the ground between them, his shaking almost visible.

            In that moment, Sarah saw something in John she never expected.

            “Or the Gates of Eden shall be shut to you, John,” Joseph said softly, the threat masked as a warning. He began to pull away as his brother responded.

            “Yes, Joseph,” the words were pushed out, soft, quick, and laced with fear. Joseph stroked John’s hair affectionately and turned away without looking at Sarah again.

            Finally, John looked up at his brother, following him with his gaze as he tended to the others. Sarah watched the fear begin to ease away, and he became the John that stood in front of the camera, the John that everyone else saw.

            “You will confess,” he turned to her, straight on and bowing his head slightly to be on her level. Just like his brother, he tilted his head to look at her past his brows, but it held a different weight with the youngest Seed sibling. “Every sin you’ve ever committed, no matter how petty, no matter how small…” he leaned into his words, his eye twitching with the want to drive the iniquities from her, “I will pull from you. Then, we’ll see if you’re worthy of Atonement.”

            His gaze flicked to the man over her shoulder she’d all but forgotten about. Before John stepped away, she reached forward, hesitantly –either from Bliss or her own insecurity. He didn’t flinch away or knock her hand back, but watched her with mild disgust wrinkling his nose and curiosity lighting his eyes. Her bound hands leveled with his face and she brushed her knuckles over the coarse hair of his beard. Then she smiled at him.

            “Yes, John.”

            He wasn’t expecting that response, she could tell even through the hazy of the Bliss. He backed away and marched off, his hand coming up to rub his beard. She watched him as she was led to a van to be taken to their next stop.

            Before she had planned just to kill him and his family. The arrest had gone south. They were stuck here until this countywide war was over. But now she had seen into this man’s broken soul and she knew she needed to fix it. Out of them, John could be saved.

            He was good, wrapped in a whole lot of wrong. He just needed to be steered to the right path.

 

 

            Sarah pressed a bloody hand to the window and stared into John’s eyes. She couldn’t reach him from here, they would be parted again. The brief sadness she felt was pushed aside when her gaze locked on the woman behind John. Deputy Hudson was still tied up to her rolling office chair. He was trying to use her to get to Sarah. As bait. As leverage.

            But Sarah was more interested in John.

            He looked her in the eye, his blue irises bright despite the low lighting. He smiled wide at her. “I know your sin.” He was proud of himself for finding it out. “It drives you. Every though, every action…. Your sin is Wrath.” He laughed, a handsome sound that had been twisted into something messed up and broken.

            No. That wasn’t right. It may have been before, when she woke from a Bliss induced dream by Faith forcing her to jump off a statue. Or when she came to while Whitetails saved her from Jacob’s compound.

            Both times she’d woken up in a new place, totally pissed off. But John didn’t fuck with her head using chemical tricks. He came at her with a psychological approach that she didn’t feel completely helpless against. She understood what he said, the connections he drew, and the results he produced. It made sense in its own twisted way, and every time he spoke, she learned a little more about him.

            She knew how to get to him.

            “You’re wrong,” Sarah said and pulled her hand away from the window, stopping him from speaking. The bloody print drew the Seed brother’s eye and then he narrowed his gorgeous eyes. “My sin is _lust_ , for you, John.” Sarah leaned toward the window and pressed her lips to the dirty glass, eyes locked on John Seed as he stiffened and stared at her. He was shocked, and maybe a little appalled, at her response, but she didn’t let him react any farther. “I lust for you to be mine, in every way, forever, away from all this.” And then Sarah stepped away and left him to think about her words.

 

 

            The meeting was to be in Fall’s End, at the church. Sarah lay on her stomach watching the white building through her scope. She saw the Peggies entering and leaving on shifts, and she had caught the flash of blue inside and knew John was there. It made her smile, but it also worried her.

            Pastor Jerome was inside, and if she wasn’t mistaken so was Nick Rye. They were waiting for her, and John was getting impatient. She refused to go when called, though, and waited where she was while they dressed the church as if a wedding would be held. She knew what she was going to do, but she needed to keep the others from ruining her plan.

            At her side, Boomer shifted and let out a soft whimper for her attention. She patted his head and looked around in the direction he was facing. With her binoculars she tagged two Peggies and went back to looking at the church.

            “I’m coming for you, John.”

            Some minutes later, Sarah approached the church door and took a breath. Her peripheral vision told her someone saw her coming and she’d been tagged, so, soon as she opened the door shit was going to hit the fan. She expected it and was ready.

            Hand on the door, she pushed it open and immediately the butt of a rifle smacked into her face. She didn’t even have the consciousness to think that wasn’t what she was expecting.

            Though not completely knocked out, she couldn’t really see or feel anything and her ears rang too loud to allow her to know what was going on around her. She started waking up to her chest burning like someone had drawn on her with a red-hot pen. Her eyes focused and it was John’s blue eyes that caught her attention. She was on her back on the floor of the church. He was straddling her waist, a hand on her shoulder to keep her still while the other buzzed like a pissed off bee. She knew what was happening and grunted, but didn’t move –John was a good tattoo artist, but moving meant it was ruined, consensual ink or not, she didn’t want a fucked up tattoo on her chest. His gaze flicked up to her face as he realized she was coming to and he smiled.

            “Listen, I’m truly flattered by your attention. But I’m a man of God. I cannot be with a woman who won’t allow her sins to be exposed.” He straightened up, still sitting on her waist. “Perfect,” he smiled at his work and Sarah tilted her head down to see it. Like back in his bunker, he’d opened her jacket and tore her shirt enough to barely expose her bra. He was, at his core, a gentleman it seemed. She could make out the bottom of the word _WRATH_ tattooed in John’s signature font just above the crease of her breasts. The scratchy look wasn’t half-assed, rushed, or even ugly. It fit the word. It was perfectly straight and perfectly placed so it was centered on her chest.

            “You want me to say ‘yes’,” Sarah said and went to move her hands. Then she realized both were being held up above her head by some Peggies. John noticed her movement and nodded away one of the men. She lowered her hand to rest against his thigh just above the knee.

            “Sin must be exposed so it may be absolved. If we hide our sin, we hide ourselves,” he tilted his head while he looked down at her. “That cross around your neck tells me you’re interested in being freed from sin.”

            “I am. I wonder if you’ve considered one thing,” she removed her hand from his leg and waved him down with a curled finger. His curiosity seemed to have gotten the better of him and he leaned down closer, but she curled her finger again and he used the hand that had been on her shoulder to support his weight as he leaned over completely now. She could whisper in his ear so only they heard. “What if Joseph is wrong?” she said so quietly he may not have caught it.

            John started to pull away but she whipped her hand up and seized his hair, holding him there. His sunglasses fell out of his hair as his hands flashed out to stop anyone from shooting.

            Sarah continued, “You’ve thought about it. I know you have. Every time he threatens you. Your parents did horrible things to you and you were so sweet, so innocent as a child. You had to lie and make up sins when they beat them out of you. They hurt you until you could only say ‘yes’. And that’s what Joseph is doing to you now. Using you. Using your skills.” She paused and pulled his hair gently so he looked at her move closely. There was that fear, the same that she saw that night by the river during the Cleansing. His blue eyes flicked away from her face, avoiding her just as he had Joseph. She wouldn’t be like Joseph. She had to be different to gain his trust.

            Blue eyes met her own brown ones and she felt her heart leap at the exposure she saw there.

            “Don’t let him use you, John,” she pleaded, then released him and put her arm back up above her head to show she was harmless.

            No one heard what she said but John, and he masked his expression well. If anything, they would assume she threatened him to no avail.

            Standing up John waved for the men holding her to lift her up and she was turned around to see Pastor Jerome and Nick Rye, as well as a woman she forgot the name of. John didn’t say anything for a time and instead went to the front of the church and looked at the book of Joseph he took from one of the Peggies on his way up. He put a hand on his hip and stayed with his back to them. Sarah knew he was mulling over what she said, but he couldn’t let the followers see him doubt. When he turned back around he went toward Nick to begin, but Sarah shook her head.

            “Me first, John. I’m ready to atone,” she said and the followers looked to her. John visibly stiffened but only she saw it. Even her allies were too busy looking her way. Then he turned to her.

            “Sarah, I’m proud of you. This will make it easier. And maybe your friends will learn a thing or two,” he came closer and she smiled at him. Pastor Jerome was moved to stand in front of her and held his Bible between them. Sarah recalled him putting a revolver in the cut out pages when she last saw the Bible. Now she knew he was going to offer her the weapon. The revolver most likely had six shots. It was a snub nose. If it was full she had a bullet for each Peggie and then one left. Her weapons had been stripped from her but were likely in the church somewhere. She knew what she had to do.

            John put a hand on Jerome’s shoulder and directed him to stand in front of her. He didn’t seem to notice that the Pastor wasn’t using the Book of Joseph –his eyes were distant despite his actions. He was distracted.

            “Our devoted,” he said over Jerome’s shoulder, instructing him to repeat, “we are gathered here to bear witness…”

            Sarah could tell the Pastor did not want to follow the directions, but he did, repeating the words.

            “To those willing to atone for their sins. Will you, Deputy Sarah Rook, place your hand upon the Word of Joseph? And renounce your sins and admit your transgressions.” John didn’t look anywhere but into her eyes, and she refused to look away just the same. When the Pastor was done repeating, John smiled. “It’s just one word.”

            There was a Peggie over Jerome’s right shoulder, one behind her, one behind the woman to her right, one holding Nick, and the one by the door. That was five of her six shots, if she could get them off before any of them got to their weapons.

            “Yes, John,” she said and lifted her hand as casually as she could.

            Just as she was about to touch it, he broke eye contact, his satisfaction seeming to get the best of him. His blue eyes locked on the cross on the cover of the Bible instead of the Project’s symbol. He jerked forward, pushing Jerome, but he was too late, Sarah flipped the book open and grabbed the revolver.

            She shot the man over the Pastor’s shoulder and then the one holding her. The others went for their guns and she got the one holding Nick then the woman. The man at the door fired, but Sarah stood between him and John and he didn’t dare fire in John’s direction. His hesitation was his end and Sarah shot him.

            Nick tackled John to the ground and Jerome and the woman rushed for the door to keep anyone coming their way out.

            Fists flying, the pilot laid into the Seed brother until Sarah pressed the revolver to his head and he stopped, stiffening. “Dep?” he breathed and turned his head to look up at her. “Wh-what’re you doing?”

            “Rook!” the Pastor shouted.

            “I’ve got a bullet left, and it’s not for John. So you best get off him if you don’t want to claim it.” Nick slowly rose, hands lifted up. He looked betrayed. He and Sarah had worked together for a little over two weeks and here she was, pointing a gun at him.

            “What are you doing? We can _end_ this, Dep. Here and now.” Nick looked down at John on the ground. He was touching his bruised and bloodied face. The punches had been heavy and would leave lasting marks.

            “I want him alive.”

            “We have him alive, maybe we can make a deal with the Seeds?” the woman asked and waved her gun at him. “If not, I say we shoot him.”

            “This isn’t a debate,” Sarah grabbed the woman’s gun and flipped it around so she had the revolver at Nick and the 9mm shifting between the woman and Pastor.

            The front door burst open and a rain of gunfire dropped the woman and Jerome leaped behind a pew. Sarah dove down and grabbed John by the collar of his shirt, pulling him with her. Nick took cover on the other side.

            John turned around and looked at her, blue eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?”

            “Keeping you alive,” she said and smirked, “Isn’t that obvious?”

            “John!” one of the Peggies called before getting shot.

            “They’ll kill you for me,” he said. She wasn’t able to read his expression: was he warning her, or threatening her?

            “They can try,” she said and leaned in. “Do you trust me, John?”

            When she turned around and fired, she put her back to the Seed brother. It was an example of trust, and he knew it. She trusted him not to just kill her right there, grabbing one of the pistols in her hand or a weapon nearby. It was a display of trust to get him to trust her.

            And it worked.

            John pushed her to the ground and the pew they took cover behind exploded from a shotgun round. Then he made for the door, running as fast as he could. Sarah blinked and watched him as he parted the Peggies like a sea and waved for them to get him away. They did, whisking him into a car and speeding away. Sarah huffed and got to her feet, ready to defend herself against Peggie and ally alike.

 

 

            Sarah thanked her prepper dad up and down for teaching her how to fly. It saved her once again. Or, rather, was saving John. Though, shooting his plane down might not be what most people imagine when they say ‘saving’, but that was just why she had to do it.

            John was surprisingly quiet during the flight, and he dealt no damage to her. He didn’t make it easy on her to hit him, though. The youngest Seed was quite the pilot with a very agile plane. She had gotten more use out of her skills since coming to Hope County for this mission, but she struggled keeping him in her sights.

            “You there, John? You’re scaring me with all this quiet.”

            Mostly she wanted to make sure she hadn’t actually shot _him._ It was hard enough to fire on the plane without worrying about killing him. 

            _“Sarah.”_

            He sounded fine, as fine as she could tell in a single word filtered through radio static. “You never answered my question.”

            _“I think I made my response rather clear.”_

            An explosion burst the air in front of John’s plane so loud Sarah felt it in her seat. “What the fuck?” she barked and banked her plane to look down at the ground. Barely visible at this distance, she could make out a team on the ground. No doubt they were trying to help. They could hear the radio chatter between John and her, so if her plan was going to work, she needed him to trust her.

            Another blast burst and John’s wing caught fire. His plan began rolling. Sarah’s heart stopped and then kick started.

            “John,” her voice cracked and she hoped the people on the ground mistook it as anger. “Answer!”

            _“Yes.”_

            The power of the word became clear when she tipped her plane toward his at full speed. His wing slapped her underside, snapping and spreading the fire to her. The screech of metal on metal grated on her ears and she hoped the plan worked.

            _“Deputy! What’re you doing?”_ Dutch’s voice cracked through her com, but she didn’t reply.

            Sarah pulled the ejector and shot out of the cockpit. Immediately she spread her arms, opening her wingsuit. Another skill she could thank her father for. Spinning around, she followed the falling planes best she could.

            “Come on, John, eject,” she prayed and narrowed her eyes behind her goggles.

            Then she saw him. She needed to reach him before he ejected his chute or those on the ground would know he survived. Closing her arms, she sent herself into a dive and aimed for him. He was fumbling for the release just when she smacked into him.

            The impact sent them spinning and they wrapped their arms around each other. With the wind whisking by so fast, she couldn’t tell if he was shaking, or if the gusts were simply billowing his clothes.

            “Don’t eject your chute yet!” she yelled so he could hear her over the wind.

            “Why are you doing this?” he hollered back. “What do you gain?”

            Sarah turned to face him. His eyes were squeezed shut and his jaw was clamped tight. “You,” she said as if it were obvious.

            His blue eyes opened and his eyes widened so she could see they were red rimmed. Either the wind or something else made tears wet his exposed eyes. Then she looked up toward the ground and then back to John.

            “We’re going into that ravine, and then we’re going to open our chutes! We can’t let them see you’re alive!”

            He nodded once and squeezed his eyes shut. Sarah thought he tightened his arms around her as well. She took a moment to look at him, the vulnerable expression on his face as he clung to her for security. He’d said ‘yes’, he said he trusted her.

            “Now, John!” she yelled and grabbed the release on his chute. In a second, he was ripped away from her. Sarah pulled her own parachute cord and braced for the jerk as the wind caught her and pulled her up.

            The gorge was wide enough they had room to maneuver, but she knew she had more experience than the John as he struggled to keep away from the sheer cliffs. His legs flailed as he tried to kick away. As experienced as he was with flying, it didn’t seem he’d ever had reason to eject, or practice with his chute.

            Eventually, they lost altitude and dropped into the water. Sarah got her vest off and swam over to John to help him, but he got the buckles himself pushed away, over to the rocky bank. Sarah walked up beside him and then looked at the parachutes as they drifted down the river. No one would know to whom they belonged, it was common nowadays to find parachutes abandoned in the forests and rivers of Hope County.

            “We have to get moving, John, change your clothes, hair, all that,” she took a deep breath and turned back to look at him. He was lying on his back, staring up at the sky with wide eyes and water dripping down his cheek.

            “What have I done?”

            “John?” she knelt beside him and he sat up, looking away from her.

            “I’ve turned my back on my family,” he bowed his head and balled his fist up against his chest. “I let you tempted me, I fell right in and accepted it.”

            “John,” Sarah held her hand out, so he could see it, but didn’t touch him. “Look at all they’ve done and tell me that it’s right. All the things you did for them? _Cutting_ people? _Killing_ them? Using _drugs_ on them?” She circled to kneel in front of him, in the water. “You’re not like that. Not deep down. Not before what Joseph did to you, what your parents did to you….”

            She reached out and touched his arm. John jerked away and scooted up the rocky bank, staring at her with wide eyes. “I am nothing without my faith. I am nothing without Joseph.”

            “You’re everything without him,” she said and untied her cross from her neck. She held the necklace out to him. “Joseph isn’t the way. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”

            John hesitantly brushed his fingers over the cross made of dwarfed carpenter nails and twine. She indicated to him with it, inviting him to take it.

            “My father made this for me when I went to the academy. I couldn’t wear it in uniform, but since coming here, I haven’t really been in uniform.” John took the cross and then looked up at her.

            “You’d give it to me?”

            “My father died bringing freedom to this country. Eden’s Gate is taking it away, poisoning the faith of believers, and driving off non-believers. I can’t save every soul, but every soul saved counts.” Sarah stood up as John looked at the cross, rubbing his thumb over it. “Do you still trust me?”

            “I…” he hesitated and then nodded. “Yes.”

            “Then we need to change your look so no one will shoot you on sight.” She offered him a hand. He took it, and she helped him stand.

            “You said… you lusted for me,” he said, looking down at her. She met his gaze, waiting for the question. “To be yours, in every way, forever, away from all this,” he recited the words as if he’d memorized them. She could imagine him contemplating them in his moments of doubt. He looked away, fear returning to his expression and it broke her heart. “What… did you mean?”

            “Just what I said.”

            “You, want me…” he stopped, a word getting stuck in his throat, “sexually?”

            “Not only that,” she said honestly.

            “How do you know you want me? _Why_ do you want _me_?” he pleaded with her. He took hold of her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “After everything I’ve done?”

            “Because I know that’s not you, John,” she said, holding her ground. “I saw what Joseph did to you just by speaking,” she reached up and cupped her face, the rough of his beard scratching her palms. “That’s not _right_ , and the John I saw respond to his voice was _scared_ , _vulnerable_ , and needed help.” Tears wet her own eyes as she spoke. She wasn’t expecting to have this talk now, and she wasn’t really thinking about her words. “No one else is going to help you, and that…” she took a deep breath. “I couldn’t let it happen. I couldn’t let you die without trying to help.”

            “You could forgive my sins?”

            “God will forgive you your sins if you’re truly repentant, and I will love the sinner and hate the sin. No repented sin will go unforgiven.” Tears streamed down his cheeks and John squeezed his eyes shut.

            “I am unworthy,” he practically fell to his knees in front of her, his hands falling to her waist. “Of your forgiveness and God’s.”

            “We all are, John,” she tipped his face up to look at her, but he kept his eyes shut. She bent over him. “That’s why Jesus died for our sins. All you have to do is believe in him, accept him: repent.” She knelt down in front of him, putting them at the same level. “And you’re saved.”

            John leaned forward, his face burying in her neck. “Yes, I repent, all of it,” he took a deep breath and squeezed his fists tight, the fabric of her wet wingsuit balling up in his fingers. “My pride, my wrath, my lust–”

            “You don’t have to list it, John,” she whispered and ran her fingers through his hair, massaging the roots. “If you want to you can, but you don’t have to.”

            A whimper left him and his fists relaxed, circling up to embrace her fully, holding her against him. “I did everything for _him_ and he still needed more. He said the Gates would be closed to me…”

            “I know,” she whispered and pressed her lips into his temple. “He was scaring you into doing what he wanted. He knew what you’d been through and how to manipulate you.”

            He was quiet for a long time, so Sarah held him and let him work through his feelings and thoughts. His hands shifted so that he held her at the base of her neck and around the waist. If anyone happened upon them, they would probably assume something naughty was about to happen, but closer inspection would expose the whimpers and hushed comforts.

            Finally, John pulled back and looked at her mouth, his face twisted in self-hate and fear. “You’ve saved me, Sarah.”

            “That’s all I wanted, John.”

            “All?” he met looked up, meeting her gaze.

            A smile spread her lips, “I already told you my intentions, but I’ll take them as they come. Saving you was my first priority.”

            He nodded his understanding and leaned forward so that his forehead touched hers. Briefly, she was reminded of what Joseph did to John at the Cleansing, but then he pressed his cheek to hers and took a deep breath, making the touch more intimate. “Thank you, Sarah.”

 

 

            Sarah opened the cabin door and John slipped in behind her, checking the corners with the silenced rifle. As quietly as she could, she closed the door once Boomer made it inside. Then she headed in the opposite direction of her companion.

            It had been weeks since she had saved John from himself. Now she never went anywhere without him. To the best of her ability, that is. The Seeds and most of Hope County thought he was dead, only she and Pastor Jerome knew he was alive. After cutting his hair, shaving his beard nearly completely off, doing a complete wardrobe change, and going by ‘Jay’ instead of John, he passed for a Whitetail. With his skills with a tattoo gun, he was able to change the more notable tattoos he had, and he never wore anything that exposed the crossed out _SLOTH_ scarification tattoo on his chest.

            She missed his old getup, but camo was safer. His shortened beard scratched at her skin when he embraced her or when she touched his face, the tickling stubble made her smile. Now that his hair was shorter, she couldn’t get a good hold on it, and ended up running her fingers through it more determinedly. They were growing close, but had yet to do anything but share timid words and kisses in the dead of night.

            Most of their time was spent running around Jacob and Faith’s territory, bringing down Peggies and helping the resistance. Like this cabin.

            A muted _pop pop pop_ told her John found something and she whirled around to check behind. When she came back around, her silencer smacked an Angel.

            Startled, she pulled the trigger, but it was too late. The Bliss maddened creature threw its arms like clubs and the knife gripped with white knuckles planted itself in her shoulder, cutting the strap on her bulletproof vest. Sarah grunted and fired again and the Angel staggered back.

            Boomer came out of nowhere and took it to the ground.

            “Sarah,” John’s voice came from behind her and she turned to see his bright eyes filled with concern.

            “I’m fine, we need to check the rest of the house,” she pulled the knife out and huffed, realizing just how much it hurt. “Ouch.”

            “Sit,” he pulled her over to the dusty couch and she obeyed. While John treated her, Boomer checked the rest of the house and came back with a couple of guns that he thought were interesting. None were as good as she and John had, but she thanked the dog anyway and petted him.

            John finished up with the bandage and then sighed, keeping still where he was knelt in front of her. She tipped his chin up so he met her gaze. “What’re you thinking about?”

            “Jacob will come for you soon. And… I won’t be able to go with you.” He was worried about her.

            “John,” she whispered and cupped his face, not moving her left arm as much. “I’ll be fine. I can handle him.”

            He nodded and leaned forward, gently brushing his lips against hers. The kiss was soft and sweet, and too short for both of them. “I… can’t lose you.”

            “I’m not going anywhere,” she said and pulled him up onto the couch with her.

            John gently leaned into her, giving her soft kisses along her jaw and down her throat. A smile spread her lips and she shifted around to lie back on the couch. John was careful to lay over her without touching her wounded shoulder. He kissed a path up and down her neck between her jaw and collarbone. He was good at it, not a stranger to this sort of intimacy, but he didn’t play the role he used to anymore. Now he was clean, and saved, and he did things right.

            “I love you, Sarah,” he all but moaned into her throat. It wasn’t exactly the first time he’d said it, but it felt like it with how earnest it was and how raw he sounded. “Marry me.”

            Her heart leapt and she sat up, pushing against John so that they were upright on the couch. “Did you just…?”

            “Yes,” he chuckled and looked at her with a crooked smile. “I realize now I should have… gone about it differently.” He cleared his throat and rifled through his pocket. “It’s not a spontaneous question, I did come prepared,” he pulled out a small black box and slipped off the cushions so he knelt in front of her. “I’ve told you I wanted this to go right, you and me,” he started and swallowed, looking down at the black box in his hand. She watched his face as fear creased his brow. She knew it was fear of rejection, but she also knew he wouldn’t be rejected. “I didn’t know if I would ever reach this point in my life, but I have, thanks to you.” He looked up, a hopeful smile teasing his lips. “Deputy Sarah Elizabeth Rook, you saved my life, and my soul. Now, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

            Without hesitating she nodded, “Yes!” she looked down at the ring when he opened the box and her heart skipped. It was a golden band with a single blue stone in the place of a diamond. In the low light of the evening sun, it was the same color as John’s eyes: her favorite color. It was perfect and she scooted closer so that she could get it on as soon as possible. John laughed and freed the ring from the box, quickly slipping it onto her finger. It rested perfectly in place and she grabbed her fiancé to kiss him, long and deep. “I love you, John Seed.”

            “I love you, Sarah Rook.”

           

 

            Pastor Jerome did the service, it was short and perfect for the two of them. Afterwards they planned to spend a day in the woods before taking the fight back to the John’s siblings. They found the perfect camping site and set up a large tent with thick sleeping bags and blankets to sleep and… do other things on.

            Sarah sat down beside the creek and looked at the hills, then glanced over her shoulder at John as he poked at the fire to get their meal started. He was dressed in blue jeans and a black button up with the arms rolled to the elbows. With the low sun casting their camp into shadow from the cliffs, she didn’t worry about him over heating.

            A short time later, John was sitting beside her and they ate off a plate together. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held it while she stuck the fork in the fish and greens, feeding both of them in turn. It was quiet and just what both of them wanted.

            Then John kissed her temple. It almost felt like a parting kiss, until he moved his lips down to her earlobe, letting his teeth graze over it. She shuddered when he lowered kisses to the hollow below her ear. The stubble on his cheeks and chin tickled as he pushed into her, arms coming to wrap around her. Sarah grinned and turned to face him better, cupping his face with one hand and running the other through his cropped hair.

            Their breathing picked up as their hands got sloppy, switching between touching and undressing. The need seemed to hit them both suddenly, and without words they were on each other, rolling in the grass to help the other expose skin.

            With lips pressing desperate kisses together and to any skin they could reach, they ended up with John on top of her. Sarah ran her hands down his chest, her fingers brushing over the scars and tattoos while he looked down at her lovingly. His thumb brushed over the healed tattoo he’d given her and he frowned. She took his hand and kissed his palm.

            He leaned down and kissed her sweetly, then down her neck, and lower still to the black word above her breasts. He pressed his forehead into her sternum and whispered, “I don’t deserve you.” But before she could say anything, he cupped her breasts and kissed the crease they made. She smiled as she watched him move from one peak to the other, showing them equal attention kisses and bites.

            John lowered himself still, kissing down her stomach, stopping at old scars and healing ones, and then licked her belly button. Startled, she laughed and wiggled under his hold. John smirked and continued down lower as if he hadn’t almost broken the mood. His hot breath washed over the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh and lower lips. Then he moved in slowly, gorgeous blue eyes locked on her face as he kissed her clit. The pressure from his lips and the scratching sensation of the stubble on his face made her shift her hips. Then he opened his mouth and ran his tongue down through her lips.

            The new feeling made Sarah buck and squirm, but John only smiled at the movements and sounds she made. He worked slowly, and parted from her core to bite up her thigh all the way to her knee, then back down only to skip her lips and go up the other leg. The teasing was worse now that he’d given her a taste –or rather taken a taste– and she whimpered pathetically, edging her hips closer to him as if it would get him to return his sexy mouth to where she really wanted it.

            “You want this?” he asked and hovered above her core, eyes still on her face. She nodded and he smiled, opening his mouth so that he breathed onto her. She bucked her hips and he tilted his head just enough to indicate he was waiting for a reply.

            “Yes,” she whispered, breathlessly.

            John grinned and lowered his mouth, “The power of yes….”

            This time he didn’t take his lips away, instead, he suckled on her clit and added his fingers. He knew just what he was doing and Sarah couldn’t do anything but writhe underneath him. Her legs bent and her toes curled as he brought her to her first end. The high going to the cliff tops above them.

            “Yes, John, yes!” she called and arched her back as she came undone. He held her to him as he lapped at her juices.

            With a satisfied sigh, Sarah relaxed back down into the grass and John climbed over her, hooking her leg over his shoulder.

            His head brushed through her damp lips and he groaned, looking to the stars as they blinked awake in the dimming sky. She was almost startled at the sensation, but smiled and used her leg on his hip to encourage him on.

            He didn’t make her wait. John slid into slowly so they could adjust to the feeling of their bodies meeting. Like two puzzle pieces snapping together, John sheathed himself and circled an arm under her for support. The angle was perfect and allowed him to fill her with minimal effort. He started off at an easy pace, giving her kisses as she took him to the base.

            He filled her to the point she stretched just enough to remind them both she had never done this before. Everything he did was perfect and magical.

            Need drove her to want more, so she started rocking her hips to meet his. This turned John’s kisses to nips at her jaw and neck. And when he pulled away to change positions, she wrapped her arms around his neck so she sat up into his lap. He rolled them over, putting her on top and Sarah took the change in stride.

            She rode him at his slow pace, getting a feel for it, then she started moving faster, hands planted on his chest for stability. He cupped her breasts and pulled her hair, thumbed her clit, and drove her into another orgasm all before he rolled her back over into the soft grass. This time he got her on her hands and knees and grabbed a handful of her thick brown locks, holding the roots so that she felt a pleasant tug, but no pain.

            When he entered her this way, he didn’t go slow. He kept the pace she had started on top of him and Sarah bowed down, putting her face on her hands in the grass, and keeping her ass in the air for him. John held her at the hip and pulled her back to meet his thrusts while he gave her hair directional tugs. She turned so that he could see her face over her shoulder, see her smile and hear her panting breath.

            Hear her repeat _yes_ over and over, as he pounded her.

            John turned her over one more time and lifted her up, taking her to the single tree in their camp. She beamed at his display of strength and grabbed the lower limbs to support herself while he gripped her waist and pulled her down onto his raging length. He growled and grunted through gritted teeth and bit at her throat and shoulder while she called his name and shook under his touch.

            She liked the scraping of bark against her bare skin. She liked when he took her against the tree. She liked the way he bit her, pulled her hair, squeezed her ass, and thrust into her so her head lightened and her body grew numb with pleasure.

            Another orgasm from her was met with his own.

            He filled her, his cock pulsing as he gave her his seed and her body greedily took every drop of it. Her legs locked around his waist, and their lips sealed together in deep kisses.

            They were together, in every way, forever, away from all that was wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I didn't have a Beta reader this time, so please forgive any typos, I'll probably get to fixing those in the next few days, but I wanted to get this out there while it was fresh!


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